The Middle Market Review Insights on the Middle Market.

Subscribe Subscribe

Subscribe Today

I want to receive:

Thanks for subscribing!

The Most Active Middle Market Firms

Schwarzman and Kravis duke it out on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs jostle for position atop the annual league tables. Google and Apple regularly close billion dollar deals, often just to keep the other from having the acquisition.

But what about the middle market – who is the most active private equity group, investment bank or corporate acquirer? Gene Lee, of Cove Point Holdings, recently said that “one of the attributes of the lower middle market is that it is a highly fragmented space with thousands of regional and local M&A advisors and brokers.” Finding consistent data about the active participants can be a challenge, especially as you start trying to aggregate different regions and verticals.

Last year on Axial more than 9,000 Members – qualified investors, advisors and companies – connected around nearly 6,000 deals in the middle market. As a way to start answering the question about who has the biggest impact, we ranked everyone based on their normalized activity level and created lists of the top 15 boutique investment banks, lower middle market private equity groups and small-cap corporate acquirers.

Once a quarter we’ll be updating the activity level rankings with data from the prior quarter, helping you sort out how your firm is doing, which firms you should be connecting with, and to better understand how the market looks generally.

Most Active Boutique Investment Banks

Rank Firm HQ Pursuits Activity Level
1 Allegiance Capital Corporation TX 259 87
2 Focus Bankers DC 241 76
3 Greenberg Advisors MD 33 65
4 Vercor GA 219 62
5 Peter A Sokoloff & Co CA 113  63 
View the complete rankings: Boutique Investment Banks

Most Active Lower Middle Market Private Equity Groups

Rank Firm HQ  Pursuits Activity Level
1 Catalus Capital CT 723 84
2 Pillsman Partners CT 320 76
3 Larsen MacColl PA 272 74
4 Graylight Partners MN 282 73
5 Olympic Valley Capital CA 237 72
View the complete rankings: Lower Middle Market Private Equity

Most Active Small-Cap Corporate Acquirers

Rank Firm Industry HQ  Pursuits Activity Level
1 Synalloy Coporation (NASDAQ: SYNL) Metals & Chemicals SC 104 61
2 Iron Eagle Group Inc (OTCQB: IEAG) Construction NY 68 56
3 Steel Partners Holdings (NYSE: SPLP) Holding Company NY 67 55
4 Plasma Ruggedized Solutions Coatings & Engineering CA 56 54
5 Quadrant 4 Systems Corporation Information Technology IL 47 53
View the complete rankings: Small-Cap Corporate Acquirers

Learn More About Joining Axial

Request Information

Subscribe to Middle Market Review

Subscribe to Middle Market Review

Subscribe Today

I want to receive:
Subscribe

Thanks for subscribing!